The Republican War Against Women : An Insider's Report from Behind the Lines

Description

As the countdown to the 1996 presidential election gets under way, the position of the Republican Party seems stronger than ever. It controls both the House and the Senate. It responded to the nation's call for change in 1994 and has a highly visible spokesman for that change in the Speaker of the House. But in 1996 should it have your vote? That is the question that Republican insider Tanya Melich poses as she unmasks the national GOP's twenty-year history of hypocrisy toward women; as she challenges its deliberately orchestrated slide away from centrist policies; and as she reveals how the party's national leadership, pressed by the religious right, has adopted a divisive strategy that intentionally exploits antifeminist fears to garner votes.Now, in this authoritative, closely reasoned, and often shocking book, Melich cites chapter, verse, and the actions of participants to document the ways in which the Reagan and Bush administrations moved to curtail abortion, family and child-care programs, and policies to help women gain equal opportunity; how they skewed the appointments of women in the administration and in party leadership; and how they appealed to sexist and racist bigotry to win votes. She also shows how frighteningly effective this calculated strategy proved to be in the 1994 midterm elections, which not only validated its effectiveness but reinforced the direction the party is likely to take in the 1996 presidential campaign.show more